


After the Battle

by NammiKisulora



Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: Angst, Book Spoilers, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post BoFA
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:45:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NammiKisulora/pseuds/NammiKisulora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thorin wakes up after the Battle of Five Armies, and Dwalin breaks the news of his beloved nephews' fate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Battle

**Author's Note:**

> What it says on the tin. I've written about the battle itself a couple of times, but never the aftermath when Thorin wakes up for a while, so I thought it was time to remedy this!
> 
> BoFA spoilers, guys!

Pain. Pain everywhere, around him, in him, coursing through his veins and he thinks, _this is too much, no one can endure this_ , and for a blissful moment he feels the darkness of oblivion rise again, almost succeeding in pulling him under, when a single thought pierces through both pain and darkness.

 

The boys, his nephews, he must know if they’re alright, his precious little… He panics when their names escape him for a second, and with an effort of will far greater than he thought himself capable of, he forces his way back to full consciousness.

 

With a gasp of pain he breaks through the surface and opens his eyes, and finds himself looking up at white tent canvas instead of the open sky. He turns his head to the side, and sees Dwalin rising from his seat beside the cot.

 

“Thorin! I – I’ll fetch a healer – ” Thorin tries to lift his arm to stop him and the surge of pain makes his vision darken and his head spin. He desperately fights the pull of unconsciousness.

 

“Fíli”, he grits out with his teeth clenched against the pain. “Kíli.”

 

Dwalin stops dead, his body suddenly rigid, and when he neither answers nor turns around, Thorin knows.

 

“No…” It feels like someone has torn his chest open and ripped his heart out; the emptiness threatening to swallow him up dulling the pain in his body, only to replace it with a different kind of agony that is even harder to endure.  Tears burn behind his eyes without falling and his throat tightens so hard he can barely get any air, but it makes no difference to him; he has forgotten how to breathe anyway, because how can he when his beloved boys do not?

 

He stares dumbly at the canvas wall of the tent without seeing it, the knowledge that Fíli and Kíli are gone still sinking in, the realization hitting him in waves more painful than any physical wound could be, and finally Dwalin turns around to face him.

 

“They…” Dwalin falters, his voice cracking, and when he kneels next to the cot and cautiously touches Thorin’s arm, his hand trembles. “They fought bravely, right till the end”, he says in a thick voice, only half-managing to choke back the sob that follows, and bows his head with his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

 

Thorin barely hears him. Somehow knowing that they stayed brave and loyal, even in the face of death, only makes the pain tenfold; they should have run, they should have stayed safe, they –

 

“They fell protecting you from all the enemies who wanted to make completely sure you were really dead.” Dwalin’s voice is quiet, but the words uttered makes Thorin feel like the very foundations of the very world suddenly are ripped away.

 

“But I was supposed to protect _them_!” he gasps. He would have screamed if he only had the air for it, but he does not, and the room swirls around him. He is vaguely aware that Dwalin is calling his name in a worried tone, but all the pain, so many and so great he can’t tell them apart anymore, is drowning him, and this time he gladly succumbs to the darkness and oblivion of unconsciousness.

**Author's Note:**

> I intend to write another chapter covering the next time Thorin wakes, and possibly his farewell to Bilbo, but I have no idea when. But it will come!


End file.
